As you all probably know, all tournament games were cancelled today. All of the groups were out separately for about an hour-long workout each though. The White group was first, followed by Black. After an hour-long break Red came out, followed by Gold. All groups went through the same drills, all of which stressed skating.

After having everyone skate a few laps to get warmed up, everyone broke into groups and had to skate the lines. Near blue line and back, red line and back, far blue line and back, far goal line and back.

Another drill had each person skates backwards along the blueline. While doing this the next guy in line passes a puck to the person skating, who passes it back. The stationary person passes back to the skater, who then transitions forward around a cone, skates in on goal, and takes a shot.

Another drill involved 2 forwards and 2 defenseman. Two forwards curl off the boards around the top of the circle, each with a puck. They each skate in and take their shots, one at a time. As soon as the second shot is let go, another puck is fed in to the first defenseman who is positioned at center point. He shoots it in and the two forwards try for a deflection. Once that shot is through, another puck is fed in to the second defenseman who is positioned near the goal line. He breaks that puck up to the forwards, who get it back to the first defenseman. He gives it back to one of the forwards and the two of them have a 2-on-1 against the second defenseman.

The final puck drill involves three forwards and four defensemen. A coach dumps a puck into the corner. The two defensemen on that side go back and retrieve it, then practice a break out with the three forwards. The forwards get the puck to one of the other defensemen, who passes to his partner. He passes back to one of the forwards, who skate in on a 3-on-2. Most of the time, two of the forwards were trying to draw the defense away from the slot so the third could get a good look at a shot.

After that, the player had to skate down one side of the rink, around the net, and back up the other side (think of a "U"). As they progressed through this, the net was moved closer to center ice and they went again. Hlinka was very adamant about everyone crossing over when going behind the net. He did not want to see anyone in a glide through the turn.

I was able to watch individuals more today since it was all drills. All of the defensemen wore different colored jerseys without numbers, so I wasn't sure who some of them were. Here are some things I saw in each session:

White: I am very impressed with the skill level of Kris Beech. His passes are hard, flat and accurate. He is a very nifty stickhandler. He places his shots well and is a shifty skater.

Jan Hrdina is making better decisions with the puck. He is taking shots when they are there. I can only think of a couple of times when he passed up shots. He has been playing on Beech's left wing with Eric Meloche on the right side.

Black: Milan Kraft was out for the first time this camp. He had been out with the flu. He skated between Krzysztof Oliwa and Aleksey Morozov. He had a couple of nice shots.

Oliwa seems to be hit or miss. At times he looks pretty good with the puck. I remember he drilled a pretty hard one-timer for a goal in the 3-on-2s. However at other times he looks bad. He had trouble receiving passes and shanked a couple of shots well wide of the net.

Red: Shane Endicott still needs to work on his skating. It was very noticeable in the first puck drill when he had to skate backwards across the blueline. He did have a couple of shots into the upper corners though.

Ross Lupaschuk has quick feet and is a very fluid skater. He has a quick release on his shot as well.

Gold: Bill Tibbetts and Jan Fadrny returned to practice. Josef Melichar was not there after hurting his leg in a game yesterday. Robert Dome is still out as well.

Dan Lacouture was flying around. He is 100% hustle. He may not be able to pick the corners, but he seems to always put a hard low shot on goal when he has a chance. That will create rebound opportunities for himself and his linemates that could translate to goals. He should be on the team.

Toby Petersen seems to be struggling a bit. He had some trouble making and receiving passes and lost his balance a couple of times. He showed some flashes of what made him an AHL all-star last year, putting a couple of nice shots in, but he just didn't look comfortable out there today.

Since the team is packing up and leaving for Wilkes-Barre today, this is my last report for this year. Thanks to everyone who had read them and especially to those who have complimented them!

netwolf believes that hockey is a great way to take your mind off of more serious things... even if its only for a few hours.